January
3, 2003 - Nicaraguan banana workers who believe they were made sterile
through exposure to the pesticide Nemagon, shown marching in today's photo
story, will finally have their day in U.S. Court. According to The
New York Times, a ruling by a federal judge in New Orleans has opened
the way for a lawsuit by 3,000 banana workers seeking millions in damages,
the first time a case like this will be tried in the U.S. Over the objections
of the Bush Administration, foreign courts have begun awarding millions
in damages to banana workers, although the U.S.-based companies are refusing
to pay. Shell Oil, Dow Chemical, Occidental Chemical, Dole Food, Del Monte,
and Chicquita have been named in various cases. The workers marched in
Nicaragua in November 2002, demanding compensation for health problems
related to Nemagon exposure.

In one
similar case tried in a Nicaraguan court in December 2002, the judge ordered
Dow Chemical, Shell Oil, and the Dole Food, to pay $490 million to 583
banana workers adversely affected by the use of the pesticide Nemagon.
The case was filed in Nicaragua under a controversial law that allows
any Nicaraguan worker to sue a foreign company. However, Dow Chemical
called the judgment "unenforceable" because the case was supposed
to be moved to a U.S. court, and because the ruling was "based on
a law passed in Nicaragua that its own attorney general has called unconstitutional."
The companies refused to pay.

Nemagon,
banned in the U.S. since 1977, contains the active ingredient dibromochloropropane
(DBCP). Studies on workers have shown that exposure to DBCP cause men
to produce fewer sperm and to eventually become sterile. Other symptoms
of exposure include headaches, nausea, lightheadedness, and weakness in
workers. There is also evidence that DBCP causes cancer in animals and
humans.

Beyond
Pesticides will examine the impact of multinational corporations on farmworkers
further this spring at the 21st National Pesticide Forum, Toxics in the
Age of Globalization, April 25-27, 2003, at the University of Texas at
Austin. Baldemar Velasquez, founder of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee
(FLOC), AFL-CIO, is scheduled to speak. Visit the Forum
webpage for details.

Beyond
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